Waltrip Sorry About Cheating Incident

A chastened Michael Waltrip apologized Thursday for cheating
violations by his Nextel Cup team that drew a record penalty from
NASCAR and embarrassed his carmaker, Toyota, preparing for its first
Daytona 500.

But Waltrip nonetheless qualified for Sunday's race after he
was allowed to drive a backup car in a qualifying heat Thursday.

In fact, all three of the Toyotas owned by Waltrip's newly
formed team — those driven by him, Dale Jarrett and David
Reutimann — qualified for the 49th running of the 500.

Waltrip's main car was confiscated Thursday after NASCAR
officials ruled that his team had tried to use a performance-enhancing
engine additive on the No. 55 Toyota Camry during the first round of
qualifying Sunday.

That's when the two front-row spots for the 500 were
determined. The rest of the 43-car grid was set in the two 150-mile
heats Thursday at the Daytona International Speedway.

Waltrip, after starting dead last because he was driving the backup
in the first heat, finished eighth.

"Making this race doesn't fix what we did and what happened,"
said Waltrip, who won the Daytona 500 in 2001 and 2003. He added that
he still had not identified which team member was responsible.

Waltrip was stripped of 100 championship points because of the
violations. His team vice president of competition, Bobby Kennedy, and
the crew chief on his car, David Hyder, were suspended indefinitely and
Hyder was fined a record $100,000.

Before the race, Waltrip, frequently bowing his head and speaking in
hushed tones at a news conference, said he was "ready to bear all
responsibility for what happened."

Waltrip, 43, said he was "embarrassed to be sitting here in front of
you talking about stuff that doesn't have anything to do with what
the fans come to see, which is fast cars racing hard on the track."

He said he'd considered not competing Thursday but decided to
race after he was urged to continue by his wife, Buffy, and NASCAR
President Mike Helton.

"Because I was so upset yesterday, I wanted to go home, and they
told me, `You've got to stay and race,' " Waltrip said.
"I'm sad and happy at the same time. But Daytona does that to
you."

Waltrip ran his qualifying race with a replacement crew chief, Scott
Eggleston, who was Waltrip's crew chief when he won the Daytona
500 in 2001.

"It was important to show that we could fight back from adversity,"
Waltrip said.

NASCAR has yet to identify the additive, and Waltrip said he
didn't know what it was, either.

"It looked like oil to me," he said, adding that it "was odorless
and blue."

Waltrip also went to lengths to separate his team's actions
from Toyota, whose Camry is making its highly anticipated debut in the
Cup series at the 500.

"You can't be skeptical of Toyota, you just have to look
straight at me," he said. "I just know they are disappointed because
this was supposed to be a time of celebration."

Waltrip's team was sanctioned a day after NASCAR had levied
unprecedented penalties against four other drivers, their crew chiefs
and owners for other violations during Sunday's qualifying.

Those drivers are Matt Kenseth of Roush Racing, and Kasey Kahne,
Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler of Evernham Motorsports.